Inquiry Finds Five Cases of Koran 'Mishandling' at Gitmo

[Vodka7]

I went to the library, and read it. Technically, since I'm an "impure infidel", I'm under a death sentence in some islamic countries just for touching it! Touching it!

Not unless you read Arabic--translations of the Koran are not considered the Koran. The translation process changes it from God's words to the translator's words, which are worthless.

Just to clear up one other misconception--Muslims don't worship the Koran. They worship God the way he taught them to in the Koran. When a situation arises that the Koran is not explicit enough about, they go to the actions of Mohammad as recorded by his contemporaries or those that followed them. After that, they go to clerics who reach a consensus based on what their school of religious thought believes is most inline with Islam.

The main split in Islam, Shiite/Suni, is more complex than I could understand. Basically, which side you're on depends on who you believe succeeded Mohammad.

The real problem is that Americans don't hold anything sacred anymore. We're too all inclusive, too politically correct, to the point where the Supreme Court has said that flag burning is perfectly legal anywhere you could burn, say, a Hooters t-shirt. That's not the case in Muslim countries--they have the guts to say "no, this is sacred. You will NOT mess with it."

I can't remember the last time I heard church bells that denoted anything but the hour... In Egypt, I heard them five times a day, starting at 5:15am--the city (Cairo, in my case) quite literally rings out with them. You hear, in harmony, loudspeakers blaring from every direction.

Religion is a part of the daily life of every Muslim--in these countries, the first thing children learn to read is the Koran. Even a bad muslim child, raised in the United States, will still have more of the Koran memorized than I will ever know of the bible. In these countries, religion is something that happens every day--unlike here, where it's once a week, maybe just the big holidays, or when someone dies. So, where I and several other posters on this board have admitted that someone disgracing a bible right in front of me would not be a big deal, someone defacing a Koran is a big deal--people actually care, and would be offended.

 

[jefnvk]

That's not the case in Muslim countries--they have the guts to say "no, this is sacred. You will NOT mess with it."

But if someone had gone on a massive Bible burning say, after WWII, would we have gone to war with them? Methinks not.

 

[Boats]

I am all for the desecration whenever it can be done. I do not understand shying away from this fight. We are either going to drag them into the modern age, or we are going to be shooting them as long as Lake City keeps pumping out the ammo.

Why should we not go out of our way to inflame their passions? It not only radicalizes those we'd most like to kill, it also apparently gets them to kill one another too.

"But we need allies," comes the whiny refrain. We really need more will to fight.

 

[Arc-Lite]

Vodka...there was some sense in your many general statements... the sense was good, the general statements were far to black and white. This whole question, has one remaining point, we are at war, the reasons or "whys"..really has nothng to do with the outcome. Everything they do, is in the name, of their religion, this being the case, it will always be an issue. Looking back, when Iraq and Iran were at war and locked in a death struggle.... the west was much less their target....something to consider, and maybe the light at the end, of this tunnel.

 

[Joejojoba111]

"Looking back, when Iraq and Iran were at war and locked in a death struggle.... the west was much less their target....something to consider, and maybe the light at the end, of this tunnel."

Well, the west was rather involved in the war, because I don't think a lot of equipment or training to use it was a local commodity. T72s Mirages Centurions Chemical weapons with a US flag on them...

...Maybe the current anger is partly BECAUSE we sat back and were happier when they were kicking each other around... If you know this, maybe they know this, and maybe this isn't something they want to repeat...

 

[Arc-Lite]

call me a realists... giving support to both Iran and Iraq while they were at war....sound pretty much like a good idea....then or now!!! Joe..you think they need a reason why, for this chosen war with us....???? or ANOTHER reason why ???? if your enemy is fighting each other, you give them both rocks. theory...is great for talk, but we seam to be a war. they kill each other, with the same ease they kill us....and that is the way of things.

 

[bjbarron]

It happened again....

Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan rioted today in response to new reports that copies of the Koran were desecrated when two American buildings collapsed after being struck by American airplanes in September of 2001.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) revealed that fragments of the burned and soiled Korans were discovered in the ruins of the World Trade Center towers in New York City.

A spokesman for the ACLU said the Bush administration did little to prevent the damage to the Islamic holy books, that apparently belonged to Muslims who worked in the office towers until their "unjustified termination" during the morning of September 11, 2001.

"This is just another example of U.S. insensitivity to cultural diversity," said the unnamed ACLU spokesman. "To add insult to injury, anonymous sources say that some of the Koran fragments may have been unceremoniously dumped in a landfill."

Read more on Scrappleface

 

[White Horseradish]

The real problem is that Americans don't hold anything sacred anymore. We're too all inclusive, too politically correct, to the point where the Supreme Court has said that flag burning is perfectly legal anywhere you could burn, say, a Hooters t-shirt. That's not the case in Muslim countries--they have the guts to say "no, this is sacred. You will NOT mess with it."

Considering that the American society is less homogenous than that of any Islamic country by an order of magnitude, this is quite proper. Otherwise, this wouldn't be America.

I can't remember the last time I heard church bells that denoted anything but the hour... In Egypt, I heard them five times a day, starting at 5:15am--the city (Cairo, in my case) quite literally rings out with them. You hear, in harmony, loudspeakers blaring from every direction.

Don't know where you live, but in St. Paul the bells of St. Panteleimon's ring every holiday. Christianity doesn't prescribe calls to prayer like Islam, so it would be impossible for you to hear them five times a day.

 

[Iain]

I am all for the desecration whenever it can be done.

Well, I guess we should be grateful that wiser heads prevail.

 

[JOE MACK]

Holy books

The previous Pope was shot and while there was outrage, I don't recall any rioting. Nor was there any rioting in response to Sinead O'Connor ripping up a picture of the Pope on SNL, though Frank Sinatra said he would kick her a$$.

Then some time after being shot, the Pope forgave his assailant and even visited him to pray with him. Think any of the mullahs would do that?